KEY POINTS:
There's nothing like an earthquake to remind us all that, in the face of Mother Nature, we are completely and utterly powerless.
The one that shattered Gisborne's silent night on Thursday was a nasty one indeed.
As soon as it hit, just before nine, we knew it was
a ripper because the phone lines lit up and my producer had to deal with some terrified callers.
Some of them were too frightened to stay on the phone - they thought they were goners.
It was felt as far afield as the West Coast and as far north as Auckland, and thank God it was centred so far out to sea, because if it had been closer to land, the consequences would have been devastating. As it is, it's not going to be a very merry Christmas for retailers in Gisborne's CBD. If they manage to get away with a few smashed shop windows, they'll be lucky.
An apartment block and two shops collapsed, water tanks and winery vats burst and a gaping hole appeared in the middle of the road. The CBD was closed, affecting 400 retailers, while council building inspectors checked shops for structural damage, and that will undoubtedly affect the Christmas take, traditionally the busiest and most profitable time of the year for retailers.
My first thought when I heard the news was of the Napier quake. Every time you hear news of an earthquake in the region, your thoughts immediately turn to 1931 and the quake that killed at least 256 people. The second thought is of a tsunami.
We had the chap from GNS Science - the department that monitors earthquakes - on the radio and he was able to reassure everyone that a tsunami was unlikely, and that settled frazzled nerves.
But it was good to know that all the preparedness drills were put to good use. One grandmother rang to tell me that her daughters had taken the kids to the local school swimming pool and when the quake struck the parents and children knew to head for the nearest hill immediately in case a tsunami followed. Apparently they practise the drill at school and so everyone reacted instinctively.
I had a couple of young ones ring me too - and although they were scared, they were articulate and gave an extremely good eyewitness account of the damage that had occurred in their homes. I wonder if they practise reporting at school too. The other good news to come out of the quake was the caring and consideration shown by people towards others.
Give or take the odd scummy wannabe looter - may Santa empty a sack of soot on their sinful heads - in the aftermath of the quake, the people of the district immediately began to check on their neighbours and friends.
One woman rang me because she worked as a home carer for elderly people and she was beside herself at the thought that some of her lovely oldies might be alone and frightened.
She couldn't ring them because they didn't have cellphones and the main phone lines were down. The police had asked that people stay home and not venture out on to the roads so she didn't want to drive round to check on them.
She plucked up courage to talk on the radio in the hope that they might be listening to send them a message of comfort and support and a promise that she would be there for them in the morning.
It was heartwarming stuff.
Hopefully, by now, the worst of the damage has been repaired, windows have been replaced, Christmas trees have been righted and the Gisborne quake on Thursday night has become more of an adventure lived through, rather than a nightmare that's revisited every time people close their eyes.
